Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-05-05

mcuts. The astronomer must use mathematical
instruments The observatory of the as;rSno-
meT IS called into requsiti0n, and with it all
the mechanical arts made use of in its con
struction, from the lenSe of tse telescope to the
stone in TIE foundation of the building Taken
as whole, society iSa grand co operative asso-
citation. As whole, it is unt, and this uni;
is divided into departments or branches of me-
chamcal activity and scientific inquiry, and
these are mutually dependent upon each other.
Inc demand for the product of labor is unlim.
tied. There can be no such thing Us oyer-pro-
duction so long as there remains a single human
being with wants to supply say the demand
for labor is unlimited, because the cspaeity of
the human mind TO conceive new wants is nm
limited. With every advancement in eiYiliza-
.'on there is corresponding enlargement of
the range OF wants 81
10 oNER-pHoDucrIoN FEARED WHILE MEMS
WANTS INCREASE.
Every year introduces something into
the wants of man which requires activity
in new field of labor to supply. The
earth, the source from which all wants ar,
supplied, is an inexhaustible mine. We have.
then, the unlimited advancement and exten.
sion and multiplicity of human wants, and we
have an unlimited source from which those
wants may be supplied The condition OF labor
rises with the advancement of civilization. be-
cause with the multiplicity of wants the de
mand for labor increases, and wants advance in
proportion as they may be supplied The human
mind ceases to demand things that are impossi-
bic of qualification. But, with the possibility of
supplying wants, they come into existence
and with them new fields of activity for human
labor are opened. Il is for this reason that
labor-aiding machinery is a continued BLESSING
TO labor. In fact, the difference between the
civilized and uncivilized man is difference of
the extent to which the hand of man has been
supplemented by tools and implements. The
Indian on the plains of Nevada. with his uu
aided hand, presents no evidence of civilized
capacity or productive power With him the
primitive problem of sustaining existence has
not been solved. His hand is not sup-
plemented by tools and implements. and
his unaided hand finds constant employment
in obtaining the mere necessities of physical
existence. Its therefore impossible for him to en-
ter any higher realm.
MACHINERY THE POINT OF DEPARTURE FROM
BARBARIsN.
THE use of tools and impIements which
eventually expand and broaden and multi
ply into the most complex labor-aid
ing machinery, is the point of departure be-
tween barbarism and civilization. as soon as
uncivnized man perceiyes the value of an tx
with which to cut down the trees of the forests
ne finds eventually the value of Il saw. He
learns to propel this saw with steam or water
power, and thus his hand is aided He can
now do something more than sustain mere
physical existence. Some of the intellectual
wants of his nature may now be supplied, and
with The intellectual activity necessary to the
manufacture Of an ak or Il saw or a spade, he
has acquired more intellectual force and power,
and this is inseparable from the requirement of
diversified wants His capacity to perceive
new wants has been enlarged, and as soon as
want is perceived or felt, effort will be made to
supply it. The uncivilized man. like the In
dian of the plains, has never felt higher wants.
When his physical wants are gratifed, he falls
into q condition of sloth and Incidence, if in
deed he has time for Incidence, for in a bar
barons condition, with the hands unaided by
implements, it requires constant effort, dill
gence and industry to obtain the means of sup
porting mere physical existence. 1t therefore
follows that every discovery in economic
science which makes the production of things
useful to man cheaper, and every new want
that is felt by man in his progress toward higher
civilization, enlarges the field of labor
WHAT COOPERATION WILL. DO
Cooperation will add new energy to civilized
life, because il will increase the prosperity of
laboring men, and enlarge i'll every respect the
anD If hair ThsA
diversity OF wants, the power OF the mind to feel
and acquire new wants, being unlimited and
these things, necessary to their qualification
being produced alone by labor the demand for
labor is limitless and that demand will increase
in the proportion as men have capacity to per-
ceive greater diversity of want. The untaught
barbarian, Notwithstanding the effort required of
him to maintain physical existence, consumes
but little labor Civilized man is a vast consumer
of labor. Every alticle of furniture in his house.
the house itself, the garden, the grounds, the
books, the papers and the musical Instruments,
all the result of labor, and each civilized man
is therefore consuming in his lifetime the result
of labor equal to the productive capacity of
many hundreds OF men}whose hands are un-
aided by labor-aiding machinery
''Theintroduetion ofthe cooperative principle
into the industrial systems of our country means
general advance in the conditions of all
classes. It means the awakening of the minds
of a greater number of people to the complex
wants of civilization. and will bring within the
reach of all increased means OF their gratitics-
tion.'
THE INCREASE OF POVERTY.
At this point the reporter directed the sena-
tors attention to the theory advanced by GER
tain writers on the science of political economy
concerning the increase OF poverty with the ad-
yancement of civilization. The question was
propounded in the following general form:
at has been contended, Senator, that the
multiplicity OF civilized wants places Il strain
upon certain classes among civilized men who
have not sufficient intellectual capacity to keep
pace with the civilization which surrounds
them, and that they are therefore relegated to a
condition of poverty which gives great empha-
sis TO the disparity of condition between the
rich and the poor, that in short civilization pre-
sents the strong lights and shadows of great lux
ury and abject poverty"
To this the Senator replies substantially as fol-
lows
That conclusion grows out of our lack OF OBJ
servation ofthe same phenomena among unciv-
ilized men. In state of barbarism there is an
utter absence of all unselfish helpfulness. The
strong prey upon the weak. There is a greater
disparity OF condition between the hunter whG
is able to pursue the chase, and the INDECENT
aged and infirm. than between the rich and the
poor in civilized life, and for reasons which have
already been alluded to; that is we have found
that the poiut of departure the very line of sep
aration which leaves barbarism on one side and
introduces civilization on the other, is at that
point where the hand of man is supplemented
by labor-aiding machinery, tools and imele
ments. We have found that
WITH THE INTRODUCTION oE LABOR AIDING: MA
cHINERY LIFE is ENLARGED,
Its possibilities widened and expanded The
primitive problem of maintaining physica
existence being solved, the intellectual anG
spiritual wants of man may be ministered unto
When man, through the assistance of labor
aiding machinery, may be able to produce il
his lifetime an amount sufficient to maintain
the physical existence of a hundred men ther
he has a margin of capacity TO supply his intel
lectual, esthetic and spiritual wants in excess O
the demand made upon him to maintain hi
physical existence equal to that which woult
maintain the physical existence of ninety min,
men. Out of this surplus he is at liberty to con
ceiye new wants because the means to gratif,
them are within his reach. Now, among th,
natural wants of man is the desire to sec thosl
n N Ls.w.w